New Seattle GM takes different path to running MLS team
TUKWILA, Wash. (AP) - Garth Lagerway's default is to have a certain level of paranoia.
It followed him for the first year he was in charge of building Real Salt Lake and never fully left until after the club won the MLS Cup title in 2009.
And it's still there - at least a little bit - though he has moved on to the Seattle Sounders, taking over as general manager and tasked with trying to help the club achieve a new level of success.
Not bad for the former goalkeeper-turned-lawyer at a Washington, D.C., firm, who succeeded in bringing a law firm approach to running an MLS team when he first went to Utah.
"When I came from the law firm I said this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to try and make it work, I hope it works. I'm going to believe in it and I'm going to give it time and I believe it did work," Lagerway said recently. "I do believe it was a foundational reason why we succeeded and once we got it right why it was so good for so long. But if you asked me if I had doubts, yeah I had some doubts for about 2ˆ½ years there."
Lagerway is regarded as one of the top GMs in MLS because of the reconstruction he did at RSL, re-tooling a roster that became among the best in the MLS. He made do with the limited resources of a smaller market club and created a team that was a force not just in MLS but in the CONCACAF region.
Lagerway's ascension to one of the top organizational heads is unique because of his background. He was a goalkeeper in the MLS for five years, but had moved on to corporate law when his playing career ended.
In 2007, Lagerway was quietly interviewed by RSL owner Dave Checketts to take over the franchise. As Lagerway jokes, the interview wasn't done in Salt Lake City "because he didn't want anyone to know he was interviewing me just in case it was so embarrassing (he) was interviewing this unknown lawyer from D.C."
Lagerway was successful in building RSL, but did not want to go through another rebuilding project, leading to his opportunity in Seattle.
Defining Lagerway's job in Seattle isn't simple. It's certainly not a rebuild. The Sounders have made the playoffs every season of their existence. Last year they won a fourth U.S. Open Cup, won the Supporters' Shield as the best team in MLS during the regular season and were a second-half road goal by Los Angeles away from playing for the MLS Cup title.
From an MLS standpoint, Seattle is where it needs to be. But the Sounders want to be more and that's where Lagerway sees his challenge.
One is building Seattle's youth academies. So far, the only player to make an impact coming through Seattle's youth program is DeAndre Yedlin, now at Tottenham of the Premier League. Lagerway said that for long-term success in a salary cap league, there needs to be more contributors for the first team coming through Seattle's system.
The other is making Seattle a contender in the CONCACAF Champions League, someday winning the regional tournament and getting the opportunity to play in the Club World Cup. While Lagerway was in charge, RSL became the first MLS team in the current format of CONCACAF Champions League to reach the finals. That was in 2011, when they lost to Monterrey 3-2 on aggregate.
"We want to be a global brand. We average double the crowd of anybody else in America. We have one of the best fan bases in the world, not just in America. But if you want to be relevant on the world stage you have to play against the world's best clubs and the only way that is going to happen is in the Club World Cup," Lagerway said.
"You can play friendlies against Chelsea and Man United and whoever you choose to play friendlies against, but I believe our fan base wants trophies. They want meaningful games. They want to play Man United or Barcelona in the club World Cup. Whether we win or we lose, it's in a meaningful game where everybody is trying to win. I think that's what has meaning."